Editing The Pen Addict 546/transcript (section)

== Discussion of the California Pen Show and its history. ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' It looks like I wanted to go to the California pen show.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel like I have never heard of the California pen show before.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And that's why it's in the show notes. We should talk about this. In the past, there has been the L.A. pen show. Right. That has historically been a show and it's historically been tough. Like this is one of the shows where they only have a Sunday public day. So, but they start the show on Thursday and it's just really strange. And the promoters historically been tough to deal with. And, you know, the event has, you know, had some ups and downs and weird hotels and weird spaces and things like that. He, the previous show promoter is not involved with this new California pen show. So, the previous show promoter was unable to get a hotel for, I guess, the normal hotel. I don't know all the details. So, that had an opportunity for a new promoter to come in, find a new space, work with new people, and launch this California pen show. Which it's still in Los Angeles, right? It's just not called the Los Angeles pen show. So, this is around the same time of year. The L.A. pen show has historically been in February. And I've been to the L.A. pen show twice at least. Maybe three times. I'd have to think about it. It's, I've always liked going to L.A. It's a good crowd. It's just a weird show. And it's kind of like problematic from a retail perspective to only have the public one day. Well, this California pen show was designed to make it into a more traditional pen show experience from what you and I would experience. And what listeners of the show would experience to where, hey, you know, we can have, you know, vendors can get in Thursday night. And Friday, you know, people can start, you know, the public can start going. And you have a Friday, Saturday, Sunday show that's, you know, pretty much open to everybody, right? You don't have to buy a weekend pass to show up on Saturday afternoon, right? You can just buy a Saturday ticket, which in the past you couldn't do for L.A. You had to buy the whole weekend if you just wanted to go on Saturday afternoon. It was problematic. So, the California pen show, it looks good. I really wanted to go to this. I have a conflict that weekend. Otherwise, I would have been booking tickets for this. It's like a month away. And I, you know, my friend Mario Campa is running the show. And, you know, as part of a group. And, like, he's been emailing me, you know, and I've talked to him on the phone. And, like, he's going to do it right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What's it going to take to get Brad Dowdy to appear? You know what I mean? What's it going to take, Brad?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, that was literally Mario's sentence. Like, he knows. And I told him I would come if I could. And I checked my schedule, and I can't. So, maybe next year I will plan on the California pen show. We'll see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would put this one on the list of future pen shows. Basically, as well, just through a bunch of scheduling things, at least for the first half of this year. Like, I'm not going to be able to go to any of these. There's just, like, a bunch of stuff with the house, other potential travel this year that I don't know yet and need to try and budget for. And we have some exciting family events going on in the Hurley family. Like, my brother and his wife are going to be having a baby in the spring. And so... Nice. Nice. I know. It's like, I would love to go to Chicago, but it's basically that time, and you've got to prioritize. But, yeah, so that's also to say is I'm not going to be coming out to Atlanta this year. It's still something... All right, let me... I'm just going to be real with everyone about why I'm not doing this. Yeah, jump into it. Because me and you have spoken about it. Yes, we have. People want to know anyway, so... So, the Atlanta Pen Show has obviously been, like, our big thing. And we'd actually, I think, made reference to the fact that we would like to do it and come back again, right? But here's the situation as I see it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The show is different now that Brad isn't exhibiting. So, if I come down, I don't have as much to do, right? Like, I can go and look around the show or whatever, but that's like a one-day thing, and I've kind of seen all I would need to see, by and large, right? Mm-hmm. And so, then the rest of the time, I would want to be there the whole time, and there's just, you know, we're not going to have as much to do. I'm not going to come in for just Friday and Saturday. It's like so much to, like, travel for that. And then, if I'm going to be... If the two of us are going to be at the Atlanta Pen Show together,

'''Myke Hurley:''' we would naturally be recording a live episode of the show. It's kind of the whole point now. Mm-hmm. The problem I see is the space that we have is a unventilated hotel ballroom. Now, I do figure at some point we will get back to doing that. My issue is for the first live show that RelayFM has put on since 2019, I'm not sure that's the right first step. So, like, we would maybe want a bigger space where it just doesn't feel so enclosed. And I'm not saying that, like, one has more chance of exposing people to coronavirus than the other. It's more for me of, like, how it would feel for that to be the first live show. Now, of course, I would love the Pen Addict to have the first live show because it was. Right? Right. Like, all of the first live shows you've ever done were the Pen Addict. But the problem is I just don't know if that particular setup at the Atlanta Pen Show works. Like, say, like, when we did San Francisco, way bigger room. Like, the thing with the Atlanta Pen Show, we finished those shows and we're just, like, sweating. It's, like, so hot in that room. Yeah. Right? Which just proves the lack of ventilation that's going on in there. Not a knock against anyone. We pack it out. Right? We go to, like, fire marshal limits every time. Right. I just don't think this is the right setup for the first live show. So, we're going to skip out on this one this year. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So, like, it's just not the right time or place. And Myke and I are in 100% agreement on this. You know, we hope to get back to the Atlanta Pen Show, doing live shows, doing other events, doing things like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, what are we going to do, Myke? Are we going to do something where we can get together, go to a show, or have some other ideas? Hopefully. We think we have a really solid idea for 2023. It involves me traveling instead of Myke, specifically. But we're not ready to, like, announce anything yet. But we have a general idea of what we'd like to do for 2023. Because we want to do something. We enjoy getting together and doing Pen stuff. And, you know, having stuff for the podcast and sharing stuff with our followers and listeners.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That may be in the latter months of 2023 that I will be able to travel and we'll go to a Pen Show together. Like, I don't know which one that would be, but I would really like to do it. But I just, I can't commit to it yet.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know what? You should go to Orlando one year so you can go to Disney World.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I do want to go to Orlando one year. When is the, see, the problem for, see, I would do this. That's a terrible time for me. Terrible time. Could not be a worse time. Right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, there's two times that are terrible. And it's usually WWDC time. I mean, September is just the worst. Right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because, like, in June, it's just that one week that's the problem. But for September, not only is it iPhone, it's Podcastathon now, right? So it's just, like, September is the very worst possible month.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's not even, like, a weekend. It's, like, literally the month. The entire month.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, if the Orlando Pen Show wouldn't mind moving their show to August or October, that'd be great. Okay. Work on that. Just a personal, I'm just trying to manifest. Right? I'm just putting that out there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, you know, maybe in 2024, just on the short list, like, Baltimore, Chicago, and LA, aka the California Pen Show, I think those three should be on our list. Baltimore is always tough because it's early, right? It's early in the year. We tend to, like, to go later in the year. Chicago, May. California's in February, which is also tough. So, I don't know. This is all stuff we can talk. We're now just having a meeting.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, the LA show's going to be high on my list because I love LA. So. Right. It's an excuse to go to LA.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. So. All right. I think that's where we're at for Pen Show travel. I have shows booked. Myke and I's plans to get together are up in the air. We're going to try to do something together this year, though. And then maybe next year, we'll get back to a Pen Show or two or maybe late in the year, whatever happens. So. That's the plans. Because I know people have been asking now that Pen Show season's kicking off this weekend in Philadelphia here in the U.S. So, it'll be fun. I think Kimberly's going to be in Philadelphia. So, we should have a write-up on PenAddict.com coming up late next week, maybe. So, yeah. I feel like it's a fun show. And I can't wait to see how it goes this year.